Mark 12:18-27 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Mark

Chapter 12

---

18. και ερχονται σαδδουκαιοι προς αυτον οιτινες λεγουσιν αναστασιν μη ειναι και επηρωτων[1] αυτον λεγοντες And some Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him, saying,

19. διδασκαλε μωσης[2] εγραψεν ημιν οτι εαν τινος αδελφος αποθανη και καταλιπη γυναικα και τεκνα μη αφη ινα λαβη ο αδελφος αυτου την γυναικα αυτου[3] και εξαναστηση σπερμα τω αδελφω αυτου “Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no children[4], his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’

20. επτα [5] αδελφοι ησαν και ο πρωτος ελαβεν γυναικα και αποθνησκων ουκ αφηκεν σπερμα There were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and dying, he left no offspring.

21. και ο δευτερος ελαβεν αυτην και απεθανεν και ουδε αυτος αφηκεν[6] σπερμα και ο τριτος ωσαυτως And the second took her and died; neither did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise;

22. και ελαβον αυτην οι επτα και ουκ αφηκαν σπερμα εσχατον[7] παντων απεθανεν και η γυνη and the seven took her and[8] left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died.

23. εν τη [ουν] αναστασει οταν αναστωσιν[9] τινος αυτων εσται γυνη οι γαρ επτα εσχον αυτην γυναικα [Therefore][10], in the resurrection when they rise, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

24. και αποκριθεις ο ιησους ειπεν αυτοις ου δια τουτο πλανασθε μη ειδοτες τας γραφας μηδε την δυναμιν του θεου And answering, Jesus said to them[11], “Do you not err because of this, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God?

25. οταν γαρ εκ νεκρων αναστωσιν ουτε γαμουσιν ουτε γαμισκονται[12] αλλ εισιν ως αγγελοι οι[13] εν τοις ουρανοις For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

26. περι δε των νεκρων οτι εγειρονται ουκ ανεγνωτε εν τη βιβλω μωσεως[14] επι του[15] βατου ως[16] ειπεν αυτω ο θεος λεγων εγω ο θεος αβρααμ και ο[17] θεος ισαακ και ο[18] θεος ιακωβ But concerning the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

27. ουκ εστιν ο θεος νεκρων αλλα ζωντων υμεις ουν[19] πολυ πλανασθε He is not the God of the dead, but [20] of the living. Therefore, you greatly err.”

---

[1] NA-Text and Vg-St read “επηρωτων” (imperfect instead of aorist, Latin equivalent: “interrogabant”), which is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and Bede. The TR is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The verbal tense has been adjusted following the NA-Text.  

[2] NA-Text reads “μωυσης”.

[3] NA-Text omits the personal pronoun “αυτου” and renders “the wife”. This omission is due to harmonization to the parallel passage in Luke 20:28 which reads verbatim the last 14 words of this verse, except the personal pronoun.

[4] NA-Text reads “child” (Gr.: “τεκνον”).

[5] NA-Text, M-Text and WPF³⁵ omit “ουν”. From the first edition of Erasmus TR in 1516 through Stephanus revision in 1550, this conjunction had been absent from the text. Then Beza added it to the text, likely because he saw it in the Clementine vulgate and it allows a smooth transition from one verse to another. The non-inclusion is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and Theophylact. This conjunction does not belong in the Greek text. It has been removed following the NA-Text and the M-Text.

[6] NA-Text reads “μη καταλιπων” (did not leave behind). The meaning is the same, but this appears to be a local reading crafted by Alexandrian scribes that is found in Alexandrian majuscules and reflected in Coptic versions. Some manuscripts of the Sahidic Coptic version reflect the regular reading found in the other transmission lines and the Latin scriptures.

[7] NA-Text reads “εσχατον” (accusative instead of nominative). The accusative is supported by codices א, B, C, G, K, L, W, (Δ), Θ, Ψ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 28, 33, 565, 700 and 892. The nominative is supported by codices A, Γ, minuscules 1010, 1241, 1424, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The support for the accusative is better and has been adopted in the Greek text.

[8] NA-Text omits “took her and” and renders “And the seven left no offspring”, likely due to parablepsis in what would possibly have been the Alexandrian word order in the earlier copies (και ελαβον αυτην και οι επτα, thus missing “took her and”).

[9] NA-Text brackets “οταν αναστωσιν”. This is one of the 72 passages cited by Tregelles as an example that a few ancient manuscripts should be preferred over this “mass of corrupt manuscripts” that normally support the TR. Only 0.7% of the Greek manuscripts support this omission. And they are not supported by the Latin scriptures. This omission is currently called into question by the compilers of the 28th edition of the Nestle Aland text and was rejected as non-original by Griesbach, Wordsworth, Tischendorf, Baljon and von Soden. This error in these Alexandrian manuscripts can be easily explained either by visual homoeoarcton (εν τη αναστασει ουν οταν αναστωσιν, thus missing “therefore when they rise”) or excision by harmonization to the parallel passage in Luke 20:33. This is rather a good example of the ability of this “mass of corrupt manuscripts” to preserve text that is defective in some ancient manuscripts. 

[10] NA-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text omit “Therefore” (Gr.: “ουν”), which is supported by codices א, B, C*, E, F, H, L, X, Δ, Ψ, minuscules 69, 157, 1006, 1010, 1195, 1242, 1342, 1344, 1365, 1505, 2148, 2427 and part of the Byzantine manuscripts. The inclusion is supported by codices A, C², D, G, K, W, Π, Θ, Σ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 28, 33, 180, 205, 565, 579, 597, 700, 892, 1009, 1071, 1079, 1216, 1230, 1241, 1243, 1253, 1292, 1424, 1546, 1646, 2174, part of the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The omission could be due to visual homoeoarcton in manuscripts with the word order of codices D, G, W, Θ and Σ (εν τη αναστασει ουν οταν, thus missing “Therefore”). The Alexandrian omission has been explained in the previous footnote. The inclusion in the TR could be explained by harmonization to the parallel passage in Luke 20:33, but because of the excellent support for the inclusion, the conjunction has been maintained in the text within brackets. Scholz, Griesbach, Wordsworth and Lachmann disagreed on the omission of this word in their compilations.

[11] NA-Text reads “Jesus said to them”.

[12] NA-Text and P-Text read “γαμιζονται”, same verbal tense spelled differently. This spelling is supported by codices א and B. The Byzantine spelling is supported by codices D, Θ (γαμησκονται) and Theophylact. No need of correction.

[13] NA-Text omits the definite article “οι”. The article may have been missed by parablepsis (αγγελοι οι, thus missing “οι”) or by harmonization to the parallel passage in Matthew 22:30 that lacks the article. The omission is supported by codices א, C, D, F, K, L, M, U, Δ, Π, Ω, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, minuscules 28, (33), (69), 157, 579, 700, (1071), 1241, 1342, 1424 and 1612. The inclusion of the article is supported by codices A, (B), G, (W), (Θ), Γ, Φ, Ψ, minuscules 565, 788, (892), 1010, 1342, (2427), the Byzantine minuscules, (family of manuscripts ƒ¹³), (Origen) and Theophylact. The article has therefore been maintained in the text.

[14] NA-Text reads “μωυσης”.

[15] M-Text and NA-Text read “του” (masculine instead of feminine), which is supported by codices א, A, B and part of the Byzantine manuscripts. The TR is supported by codices D, Θ and Theophylact. The text has been adjusted following the NA-Text and the M-Text.

[16] NA-Text and P-Text read “πως”, which is supported by codices א and B. The Byzantine “ως” is supported by codices D, Θ, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The Byzantine reading stands as the best reading with a more widespread support.

[17] NA-Text brackets the definite article “ο” before Isaac and Jacob, which is possibly a conformation to the Septuagint that lacks this article in Exodus 3:6. This is the reading in codices B, D, W and Origen. The inclusion of the articles is supported by codices א, A, C, E, F, G, H, L, Δ, Θ, Σ, Ψ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 28, 33, 157, 180, 205, 565, 579, 597, 700, 892, 1006, 1010, 1071, 1241, 1243, 1292, 1342, 1424, 1505, 2427, the Byzantine manuscripts, Origen, Epiphanius and Theophylact. The articles belong in the text.

[18] See previous footnote.

[19] NA-Text omits “Therefore you” (Gr.: “υμεις ουν”), likely due to phonetic homoeoteleuton (ζωντων υμεις ουν, thus missing “Therefore you”).

[20] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “[the] God”, which is supported by codices א, A, B, C, D, F, K, L, M^c, U, W, Δ, Θ, Π, Ψ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 28, 33, 157*, 565, 579, 700, 892, 1071, 1342, 1424, 2427, 2542, the old Latin codices, the Syriac Sinaiticus, the Gothic version, the Coptic versions, the Diatessaron and Bede. The inclusion is supported by codices M*, Γ, 157^c, minuscules 1010, 1241, 1582^c, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codex it^q, the Harklean Syriac version and Theophylact. The word “God” evidently does not belong in the original Greek text. Byzantine scribes added “θεος” here from the parallel passage in Matthew 22:32. It has been removed from the Greek text and the translation following the NA-Text.

----

Notes:

1. Text in red letters are places where the original reading in the Textus Receptus has been revised and corrected;

2. The English translation used as a reference is the WEB brought to conformity as literal as possible to the Textus Receptus. The end product though is not the WEB or a revised WEB and it should not be called WEB. The content of this post is freely available to everyone and it is not supposed to be copyrighted;

3. TR: Textus Receptus. This text is not copyrighted;

4. NA-Text: Nestle-Aland text commonly known as critical text;

5. M-Text: Majority Text;

6. Vg-St: Vulgate of Stuttgart;  

7. WPF³⁵: Wilbur Pickering-family 35;

8. P-Text: Patriarchal Text, also known as Patriarchal Greek New Testament, published by the ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

9. The creator of the variant apparatus available in the VarApp kindly gave me permission to freely use the information contained in the material he put together.

---

To God all the glory for the preservation of the scriptures! He reigns!